The Ghost Inside
by Verdot
Summary: Sometimes you're just suited for some things, some people. Or how the WRO was really just AVALANCHE and Shinra finally striking a balance. Hopefully.


"I want you to understand that this is not like it was when the company existed. I don't work _for_ you. If you can't handle the idea of someone nearby you with power that doesn't defer to you out of fear, then you'll have to learn to."

Elfe hadn't rehersed the speech exactly, but the sentiment had to be clear. While she had most certainly respected Rufus's talents, she hadn't always respected his beliefs, and judging by the way he'd disavowed AVALANCHE, he didn't care much for hers. Then there was the fact that she was only alive because her father magically turned out to be the Turk leader and his replacement son cared enough to see that they were living. Nevermind that none of her people had survived.

"I would never expect _you_ to defer to me."

Elfe had to wonder how she'd gotten to this point, when her intentions had been so different only a few years ago.

_ooo_

Elfe had found herself during Meteorfall being protected and having none of it.

It had surprised her how easy it was to forgive her father, probably because it was obvious he tried so hard. She knew that the reality was he existed as two men; the one that talked to her, and the one that talked to everyone else. The one that talked to her always had a warm tone and obviously had issues separating the image of her as a child with what she had become now.

The one that talked to everyone else was about two minutes from beating the shit out of some poor MP.

"This g-woman right here will be placed on this transport, you will find _room_."

"Listen, there ain't no more room and ya can't bribe me cause money don't mean nothin' no more."

"Do you want to live through this or would you like to be _collateral damage?_"

Tseng had sat with her once, while she was too weak to move and told her about how he had been raised by her father and how his temper was a sign that he was a human being, or else people would mistake him for a machine. But as her hazy memories started to surface, she couldn't remember him ever yelling at her or her mother. He had always held that at bay with them, the only indicator being a vein in his neck that would start to show. Tseng almost seemed envious of this, when she told him.

"Dad, we'll find another way out. I didn't want to go without you anyway."

His expression was hard at the MP, but completely different when he turned to her. The duplicity was so nature that she had to wonder how many years it had taken to become like that.

"Alright, Felicia. We'll find another way."

Elfe had spent enough of her life being protected and she wanted a turn at it. This foolish old man that winked at her from under his mask really could use someone actually looking out for him. When she saw one of the newer-or older, as she could never tell their ages-Turks in his dark blue suit with a megaphone directing some of the slum people to large trucks she might have gotten the idea of how to protect her father.

_ooo_

"Thank you so much, Tseng, for allowing me to come here to see him. I won't be long."

Maybe it had been something she learned from her father, or maybe it was something she'd picked up getting screwed over enough times, but Elfe found that manipulation wasn't really that hard. For all his tempers and failings and rumors that people thought she didn't hear, her father's students certainly were fond of him. And while they were the replacement family, she was the _real_ family, and Tseng in particular seemed to trust that more than he should have.

"I will hold onto your katana, though," Tseng said, extending a hand out to take the weapon from her. Politely, waiting more than taking.

Well, trusted her somewhat. Her father certainly left a legacy of divided loyalties, even if he didn't intend to. But it didn't matter if Tseng took away all her weapons. She might not have had the strength that Zirconade had given her any more, but she was no wilting flower. Elfe had obsessively trained for months after Meteorfall, conditioning herself to a level that she felt more whole at.

The faceless suits parted, and she was in a simple room that must have been much more splendid when the place was still a resort.

Elfe was alone now with Rufus Shinra, and he was laying on a bed, not standing like she had imagined he would be when she saw him again. "I can see that you still have a penchant for sleeping out in the woods." He sniffed the air, to remove the any doubt as to what he was referring to.

"I can see that you still have your cockroach's ability to survive."

Elfe had been dreaming of how she would kill him. There had always been a barest hint of eroticism to it, and the most repeated method was a slow strangulation. But Rufus was no where near the best of health with the Geostigma afflicting him, and reality was beginning to look distasteful in light of her fantasies. It had been the best solution; kill the last remaining vestige of Shinra that wasn't automatically loyal to her father and he wouldn't get dragged into whatever messes occurred. She didn't think that he would have already suffered somewhat for his betrayals and arrogance.

"Are you going to stand there and gawk or do you have something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Rufus could barely move, and his shotgun was notably absent. It was the perfect opportunity, but why was she hesitating? She might as well be blunt. "I came here to kill you."

He smirked, which wasn't nearly as effective with a half bandaged head. "Then what are you waiting for?"

It wasn't like he'd given her permission, but she eased onto his bed, so that she might get the proper leverage to suffocate him properly. Rufus didn't blink, and she realized that her murder plans had turned into the world's slowest game of chicken. Elfe wanted to press down on his windpipe, but she waited for him to fight back, or call for help. For something other than expectancy. She wasn't a murderer, she was a rebel. Assassinations had never been in her plan before, why now suddenly that she had a father this all changed? Had it changed?

"I could suggest something else besides killing me, if you'd like."

"It had better be good."

"Be my Vice President, when the inevitable rebuilding finally happens. If I'm still alive."

She realized then that Tseng, when he came over to visit her and her father since they'd settled down just outside of Edge, had probably been feeding Rufus information. Just as her father had found out from him about the Geostigma, and Rufus's generally immobile state.

"That's not a gift. What do you want from me?"

"Your reputation and image. I've never seen people more willing to die for someone with so little effort on their part... well, the other's retired."

She was brought back to her own initial intentions, but the fact was she had been generally quite bored herself. Elfe had no place in a world of peace; her place was fighting for it. Faced with a dying leader that still haunted her dreams with a vibrancy, she was really left with no choice.

"If you don't die, I'll consider it."

_ooo_

Despite many of the Cosmans Elfe had been raised with holding to the idea of fate, she never believed in it. What was happening was the consequence of events; all the intentions and none of the right actions of the former generations and the responsibilities laid upon them. In this future could the forces balance out, without one overtaking the other?

She hadn't conceded to a dress, or even a full suit, but the dress shirt and slacks were things that never would have made it into her wardrobe before. But she fit better in this meeting, held in a building that had been half torn apart by the Lifestream, and half structurally stubborn enough to remain. Nothing was done without some symbolism anymore, it seemed.

A nervous man whose name her father probably knew but she didn't was speaking about rebuilding efforts. Elfe's eyes drifted over to the silent partner; they were almost full circle now, back to him backing idealistic organizations. Until the image was restored there was still a wariness with all things Shinra. If the public knew what was behind the WRO...

Compromises, one by one. Maybe someday Elfe would get Rufus to explain how he could be such a prick and still leap out of a window with no fear of falling.

Maybe this time the tenor will have changed.


End file.
